Shirt presses



W. HUGHES SHIRT PRESSES Aug. 3, 1965 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 25, 1963 w ll i W. HUGHES SHIRT PRESSES 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 25, 1963 1965 w. HUGHES 3,198,407

SHIRT PRESSES Filed July 23, 1963 .4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Aug. 3, 1965 w. HUGHES 3,198,407

SHIRT PRESSES Filed July 23, 1963 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 United States Patent 3,198,407 SHIRT PRESSES William Hughes, Eirchington, England, assignor to Weston Laundry Machine Company Limited, Faversham,

England a Filed .lnly 23, 1963, Ser. No. 297,088

Claims priority, application Great Britain, July. 25, 1962,

1 Claim. (Cl. 223 -57) This invention relates to presses for shirts, or the like, of the type comprising a buck onto which the shirt is fitted at a dressing station and a pair of heated ironing plates at a pressing station which are movable to a position to press the front and back of the shirt on the buck when the buck is moved from the dressing station to the pressing station. g

If the press has only a single buck thenthere is an inevitable delay because the operator is idle while the shirt is being pressed at the pressing station and the machine is idle whilst the operator fits a new shirt on to the buck at the dressing station.

A shirt press of the type described in accordance with the invention, has two dressing stations, positioned one on each side of the pressing station, and two bucks, the arrangement being such that when one buck is moved from a dressing station to the pressing station the other buck is simultaneously moved'from the pressing station to the other dressing station. Thus when a shirt on the buck in the pressing station is being pressed, the shirt on the other buck which has just moved from the pressing station and which has been ironed, can be removed and that buck supplied with a further shirt ready to be pressed the moment that the ironing operation, on the shirt on the buck in the pressing station, has been completed.

This arrangement enables the press to be fairly continuously used and to have a higher output. The particular disposition of the dressing stations leads to a convenient and logical lay-out of the ancillary equipment. For example a coil and collar press may be provided adjacent to but on the same side of, each dressing station to press the collar and cuffs of shirts before they are fitted on to a buck. A shirt bin may be provided at the other side of each cult and collar press and a folding table may be arranged between the two cuff and collar presses adjacent to the pressing station, with a shirt rack located between the two shirt bins in line with the folding table.

Preferably the shirt press employs heated air to dewrinkle or iron the sleeves, sides and yoke of the shirt. This is achieved by passing hot air into the interior of the buck at the pressing station, the air being caused to emerge from the buck through the material of the sleeves, sides and yoke of the shirt.

The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings in which:

ice

FIGURE 5 is a side view of the interior of the pressing station.

The shirt press comprises essentially two dressing stations generally indicated at 2 and 4 in line with each other, one on each side of a pressing station located within a press cabinet 6. Two bucks 8, 10 removably mounted on base carriers 11 are provided to carry the shirts to be ironed and are connected by a bar 12. The carriers run on wheels 13 on tracks 14, 16 extending between the dressing stations and the pressing station.

A shirt generally indicated at 17 in FIGURE 1 is fitted on to a buck at a dressing station and is held firmly in position thereof by means of a neck clip 18 and a T-bar clip 20 holding the shirt tails. The sidesof the shirt are held firmly outwardly by means of two spring loaded stretcher bars'ZZ (see FIGURES 3 and 4) and the sleeves of the shirt are held at their outer ends by spring clips 24 provided on arms 26 secured to the buck carriers, the spring clips acting to seal the cuffs of the sleeves of a shirt on the buck.

The two stretcher arms 22 are actuated through a link mechanism comprising an operating arm 28 (see FIG- URE 3) extending out from the buck and having two parallel links 3t} attached to its inner end. The outermost of these links which isvfulcrummed at 32, has a further link 34 rigidly attached to it and extending out at right angles to receive one end of a tension spring 36 anchored at 38 to the buck. An operating piston (not shown) engages each link 34 and is arranged when actuated to move this link upwardly causing the upper end of the links 3i! and hence the link 28 to move inwardly with the link 28 being maintained, because of the parallel disposition of the links 3d,,horizontal. The stretcher bars 22 are normally held inwardly by the pistons which are in the uppermost position. When the pistons are retracted the springs 36 cause the bars'22 to shoot outwardly to engage the sides of the shirt on the buck and to maintain the shirt taut.

When the buck is dressed with an unironed shirt it is.

This movement is achieved hydraulically by introduction FIGURE 1 is a front elevation of one embodiment of a of hydraulic fluid from a supply (not shown) to a cylincler 38 (see FIGURE 1) causing a piston 40 to move to the left as seen in the drawing. The piston carries a rack 42 at its outer end which engages with a pinion 44 secured to a chain wheel 46. Clockwise rotation of this chain wheel causes a corresponding clockwise rotation of a loop of chain 48. The chain passes over idler guide pulleys 59 and is attached at 52 to the carrier 11 of the buck 8. Consequently this buck is moved from the position shown in FIGURES 1 and 2 to the position within the pressing cabinet shown occupied by the buck lil. The buck 10 is moved. simultaneously due to the connecting link 12, to the right hand dressing station 4.

The ironing of the front and back of a shirt on a buck within the pressing station is achieved by two steam-heated ironing plates 54 (see FIGURE 5not shown in FIG- URES 1 and 2 for clarity) which move into contact with the shirt. Each plate is pivotally carried by the frame- 3 work of the pressing station through a pair of parallel links 56, each of which is pivoted at its inner end to a fixed arm 53. The plates 54 are biased to a non-ironing position apart from the buck by means of springs 60. Movement of the plates to the ironing position is achieved by means of operating levers 62, each of which is pivoted at 64 between its ends to the framework and has a roller 66 at its upper end which bears against a pad 68 fixed to the corresponding plate 54. The lower end of each lever 62 is pivoted to one end of a lever 7d the other end of which is pivoted at 72 to the head 74 of an operating piston 76. Downward movement of piston 76 from the position shown in FIGURE caused by the introduction of hydraulic fluid into a cylinder (not shown) in which the other end of the piston works, results in a parallel inward movement of the two ironing plates 54.

When the buck moves into position in the pressing station a cap member 78 is caused to engage over the open top 3% of the buck by means of a hydraulic piston 82 operating through linkage 34. At the same time as the front and back of the shirt are being ironed by plates 54 a supply of compressed hot air is blown into the top of the hollow buck through ducting 86, 88 and a cap 78 by a blower 99, through a heat exchanger 92. As the air passes through the neck of the hollow buck it enters a chamber at the upper end of the buck generally indicated at as (see FIGURES 3 and 4) from which it passes through a U-shaped perforated plate 96, having perforated legs adjacent each side of the buck interior into the sleeves of the shirt and also down between the sides of the shirt and plates 8, at each side of the buck interior. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, each buck 8 and includes spaced front and rear plates and a top plate covering the upper ends of the front and rear plates, a U-shaped plate 96 filling the space between the front and rear plates of the buck at the upper end of the buck, said plate having the outer ends of its legs engaging the ends respectively of the top plate, the legs being disposed within the width of the buck (FIG. 4-) and forming with the top plate a chamber 94 (FIG. 3) at the upper end of the buck into which the heated air is initially introduced, said legs of the U-shaped plate being perforated to allow air to pass from the chamber 94 into the sleeves of a shirt on the buck, and other plates 98 are provided adjacent to and inset from the open sides of the buck extending from the base of the U-shaped plate 96 and forming passages, the upper ends of which communicate with the perforated legs of the U-shaped plate to direct air from the chamber 94 into both sides of the shirt below the sleeves. As the cuffs of the sleeves are held closed the hot air is forced through the material of the sleeves to de-wrinkle or iron them. Equally, due to the pressure of the air, the air is forced through the two sides of the shirt and through the top or yoke to dewrinkle or iron these parts.

When the pressing operation has finished, the buck 10 shown in dash lines in FIGURE 1, moves to the right as seen in FIGURE 1, to the dressing station 4, the buck shown in FIGURE 1 at the dressing station 2 moving simultaneously to the pressing station. The shirt on the buck 10 can then be removed at the station 4 and an unironed shirt fitted on to the buck so that on further operation of the machine the buck 10 returns to the pressing station with an unironed shirt whilst the buck 8 returns to the station 2 and position of the bucks shown in FIGURE 1 is once more achieved.

It will be appreciated that the arrangement of the stations leading to this sequence of operation, enables the machine to have a high output and for the operators to be most economically employed.

The operator at a dressing station can be employed in controlling the ancillary equipment such as the cuff and collar press or folding ironed shirts, whilst the buck for that dressing station is at the pressing station.

The pressing operation, once a buck is in position at the pressing station, is. preferably started and stopped automatically, but the bucks are not able to move to or from a dressing station except under control of the operators. In fact the control is so arranged that when the pressing operation is finished, the buck in the pressing station can only be moved out therefrom to its dressing station by operation of a switch which is under the control of the operator of the other dressing station and so cannot be started until the dressing of the buck on that station is finished. For example in the position of the bucks shown in FIGURE 1, when the pressing operation on buck 10 has finished, the operator at the dressing station 2 on seeing this, closes a switch to move the buck It to dressing station 4 and the newly dressed buck 8 to the pressing station. The operator at the dressing station 4 is not able to cause this movement due to an interlock on the switches, so that the operation can not take place until the operator at the dressing station, at which a buck is being dressed, has finished dressing the buck.

The movement of the various parts of the machine is preferably done hydraulically using any conventional operating means such as hydraulic cylinders and pistons. The control of the movement is then achieved by the opening and closing of valves all of which is conventional and which has not been specifically shown in the drawings. Any other control and operating means which could readily be adapted for the desired purpose may be used.

The machine may, if desired, be operated as a single buck machine. In this circumstance only one dressing station is used and an over-riding switch is provided to enable the pressing operation to be eifected automatically.

1 The operator, when the buck is dressed, presses a switch whereupon the buck is moved into the pressing station, pressed therein and then moved back to. the dressing station automatically. Whilst this takes place the other buck will move to and from its dressing station but will not have a shirt on it.

Again the operating and control means may be of any suitable conventional type.

A press in accordance with the invention enables two bucks to be provided and the machine to operate very simply, and has the advantage over a machine having only a single dressing station and two bucks, in that the single station machine would have to employ a complicated tracking arrangement to enable the bucks to pass on their way to and from the dressing station, and the output of the machine when taken in conjunction with the operation of the ancillary equipment would be lower.

I claim:

A shirt pressing machine comprising two hollow bucks connected together, a pressing station having a pair of heated ironing plates movable to press the front and back of a shirt on one of said bucks when in position at the pressing station; two dressing stations one located at each side of and at an equal distance from the pressing station; aligned tracks for said bucks leading from each dressing station to the pressing station; the bucks being spaced apart a distance equal to the distance between the pressing station and a dressing station whereby the bucks may be alternately positioned at the pressing station; means for reciprocating the bucks between the position in which one of said bucks is at a dressing station and the other at the pressing station and the position in which said one buck is at the pressing station and the other buck is at its dressing station; means to supply heated air into the interior of a buck when at the pressing station; each buck including spaced front and rear plates and a top plate covering the upper ends of the front and rear plates, a U-shaped plate filling the space between the front and rear plates at the upper end of the buck and having the outer ends of its legs engaging the ends respectively of the top plate, the legs being disposed within the width of the buck and forming with the top plate a chamber at the upper end of the buck into which the heated air is initially introduced; and said legs of the plate being perforated to allow air to pass into the sleeves of a shirt on the buck, and other plates adjacent to and inset from the open sides of the buck extending from the base of the U-shaped plate and forming passages the upper ends of which communicate with the perforated legs to direct 1 air from the chamber into both sides of the shirt below the sleeves.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,126,577 8/38 Rawlinson 223 s7 2,147,597 2/39 Long 223 57 5 2,943,772 7/60 Weihmayr 223-57 2,966,288 12/60 Nancarrow 223-57 FOREIGN PATENTS 861,609 2/61 Great Britain.

JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner.

DAVID J. WILLIAMOWSKY, Examiner. 

